One food processing machine that includes a removable food receptacle is an ice-shaver/blender machine described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/228/377, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,667, assigned to Island Oasis Frozen Cocktail Company, Inc., the assignee of this application. In that machine, ice in the form of cubes or chips is contained in a hopper at the top of the machine, the cubes or chips being driven into contact with a shaving blade to produce shaved ice. The shaved ice is delivered to a removable receptacle or blender cup, where it is blended with other drink ingredients to make a frozen drink.
In the Island Oasis ice-shaver/blender machine described in that application, the impeller in the blender cup is rotated by a magnetic drive, rather than by the conventional gear-and-motor arrangement found in a typical blender. A d.c. motor assembly located under the blender platform and within the machine causes rotation of a magnetizable disk housed in the base of the blender cup and affixed to a shaft. An impeller located within the blender cup receptacle and axially connected to the shaft, is thus likewise rotated to blend the ingredients in the cup. Unlike in conventional ice-shaver/blender machines, the base of the blender cup in the Island Oasis machine has a flat bottom, and the blender platform on which it is positioned in the machine comprises a flat surface. Instead of having to carefully seat a conventional blender cup onto the coupling mechanism of a conventional machine with a downward motion, the operator may position the blender cup of the new Island Oasis ice-shaver/blender into place in the machine simply by grasping the handle of the blender cup and sliding the cup horizontally into position in the machine. In the Island Oasis machine, the act of positioning the blender cup into the machine causes a semi-rigid cover to seat itself on and partly within the top of the receptacle to prevent splashing or other unwanted discharge of food from the receptacle, and causes the cover to be unseated from the receptacle when the receptacle is removed from the machine.
It is crucial that the blender cup be positioned properly and accurately on the blender platform in order that the magnetic motor may drive the magnetizable disk most efficiently. Indeed, if the blender cup is sufficiently out of position, the blender motor may not operate.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a construction that will facilitate the proper positioning of a food receptacle in a food processing machine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a construction that will maintain the food receptacle in proper orientation during receipt of processed food from the machine and/or during processing of food in the receptacle.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a construction that is relatively convenient to use, simple to manufacture, and easy to clean and maintain.